


Reflection

by DesertVixen



Category: Dungeons and Dragons (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen, Introspection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-20
Updated: 2011-12-20
Packaged: 2017-10-27 15:06:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,266
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/297154
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DesertVixen/pseuds/DesertVixen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>To my recipient:  I hope you enjoy the story!  I had fun writing it, especially since Eric is also one of my favorite characters.  I think it's because he expresses what so many of us would feel if we had gotten on that ride...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Reflection

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Sealgirl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sealgirl/gifts).



On the dark, quiet balcony, he was alone.

He could hear the sounds of a celebration going on behind him, but Eric had stolen a few moments to be away from the press of people. Their paths had crossed again with Ramoud, the king who had masqueraded as a caravan merchant to find his daughter Aisha. Ramoud had also possibly saved their lives – if they had not met him, it was entirely possible they would have stayed the night in the cursed oasis, and then they never would have made it home. It was possible that Dungeon Master, their ever-cryptic guide, would have come to lead them out of one danger and into a different one, but they had no way of knowing that.

Ramoud had insisted on the six of them joining his own traveling party, not that any of them had needed much convincing. The idea of a few days where they weren’t alone, where they would have some friendly faces around them and the chance to enjoy themselves a little – not to mention the chance to eat their fill without worrying about it – had pretty much done the trick. Eric wasn’t sure of the reason for the celebration, but the parties had been going on for two days and showed no real sign of slowing down. It wasn’t home, not by a long shot, but it was better than seemingly endless wandering.

Eric tried not to think about home, or going home – not even when his dreams were so intense, so real that he could almost hear the sounds of the amusement park around him. He tried not to think about his most comfortable tennis shoes, or how good a cheeseburger with the works, fries, and a double-thick strawberry milkshake would taste. Mostly, Eric tried not to think about what it had been like to have a normal life – one that didn’t involve cryptic Dungeon Masters or five-headed dragons.

Sometimes he thought this place had to be a dream, a really long dream he could not wake up from. Sometimes he hoped for it to be a dream but he was always disappointed to find that pinching himself hurt. The Realm was all-too-real for them.

He couldn’t always control the frustration that he welled up in him when they failed – whether it was failing to defeat Venger, to succeed in this world past mere bumbling survival, or failing to find a way home – and sometimes it boiled over. Eric wasn’t proud of that, but he couldn’t help not being the perfect leader and hero like Hank. He did his best to cloak his frustration in sarcasm and humor, as he had done in the real world, but sometimes he did snap.

They were getting better, becoming more confident, but there was still so much that they did not know and could not begin to control. Eric was fairly certain that Hank had come to the same conclusion he had, even if the two of them never spoke about it – Dungeon Master had brought them there for some purpose, and they weren’t going home until they had done whatever it was he wanted them to do. Even on the one occasion when they had forced Dungeon Master to give them a straight answer, they had still found themselves carrying out Dungeon Master’s plan. It was one of the reasons that Eric was fine letting Hank be the leader – he could not imagine having to make some of the decisions Hank had made.

They had found portals that would take them home, but the portals had always turned out to be just out of their reach, or somehow not meant for them. They had even destroyed a few of them, like when they had sent Terri home. Eric still wasn’t sure why they had not taken the chance to go home and left the Realm to fend for itself – but when it had come down to it, he had helped destroy the portal himself. Whether it was the knowledge that the others would have done exactly what he did, or the small voice in the back of his head that seemed to suggest some of his braver moves, Eric had just done it.

When they had gone to the City on the Edge of Midnight and freed the children imprisoned there, including Jimmy Whitaker, his frustration had been compounded by the realization that they had no idea what was going on at home, and no idea what home thought had happened to them. Whitaker had acted like they had just seen each other around the neighborhood, when the six of them had been in the Realm for…weeks. Maybe months. They had no calendar, and the days had a tendency to blur together – except when the moments were all too vivid as they fought for their lives. The realization that maybe no one even knew they were here – except a little punk who needed some sense knocked into him and who thought it had all been a weird dream – was a scary one.

He had a list of things he was going to do when they got home – Eric refused to let himself think that they would be stuck here forever, or that the Realm would finally defeat them. He did not care that it had happened to other groups – he had managed to piece that much together from some of Dungeon Master’s remarks and what they had seen. He had to believe that somehow they would succeed, no matter what.

“Eric! Why are you out here when the party is, how you say…rocking?” Ramoud clapped a hand on Eric’s shoulder.

“Oh, you know, I got tired of fighting the women off with my magic shield,” Eric laughed.

The older man did not look as if he quite believed Eric. There was something about Ramoud that made them trust him, as if he cared about them as more than just a means to accomplishing…whatever it was that Dungeon Master wanted them to do. He had offered them a home, and the chance to be part of a family here.

They had turned him down, because they had families back in reality, even if he did think that Ramoud was about fifty times better than his own absentee father. Somehow, Eric had a feeling that they had to stay together if they were going to get out of this place. They needed Bobby’s brashness, Presto’s magic, Hank’s confidence, Sheila’s compassion, Diana’s willingness to take a chance, and Eric guessed they needed his skepticism and sarcasm.

Eric wanted to say something more, wanted to ask what Ramoud knew that would be helpful, when Diana burst out onto the balcony.

“Eric, Ramoud. Have either of you seen Hank? Dungeon Master is looking for us.”

He had known it was too good to last for long. “Have you checked all the dark corners for redheads?”

She rolled her eyes. “Yes.”

“We will go look in the gardens for them,” Ramoud told her. “It has been too long since I met Dungeon Master.”

Not long enough, Eric thought.

When they were alone again, Ramoud faced him. “Do not give up on yourself, my young friend. Already, you and your friends have, how do you say…shaken this world up? They cannot do it without you.”

“Yeah, without me, who would drag Hank and Sheila out of dark corners?” Eric joked as they walked down into the gardens.

He wouldn’t give up, on himself or the group. They were going to find their way out of the Realm…somehow.

**Author's Note:**

> Author’s Note: Story includes references to the episodes “The Girl Who Dreamed Tomorrow” and “City on the Edge of Midnight”. The story is set after the DDC episodes mentioned, but assumes that the events shown in “Requiem” will happen.


End file.
